Parts of Ukraine remain without any internet service post-war, but they have found an alternative to stay connected, and that is by the emergency Starlink receivers.
Starlink Helps Ukrainians Stay Connected
The SpaceX-owned satellite internet service that CEO Elon Musk touted at the start of the war has emerged as a lifeline for several country areas, with over 10,000 satellite dish antennas in service, and more are on the way, according to CNBC.
Dmytro Zinchuk, the head of network operations for the internet provider Freenet, which mostly serves the area around Kyiv and western and northern Ukraine, said that the satellites are not ideal internet. However, since there is still no connection at all, Starlink is just salvation for those who have been without connection for weeks.
Zinchuk said that his company had integrated five government-donated Starlink terminals in its mad dash to get as many customers back online as possible in areas that faced heavy Russian bombardment. That can mean wiring hundreds of people to a terminal meant for a single household.
Zinchuk added that they are well aware that Starlink was not created for this, but they successfully launched 150+ subscribers on one Starlink.
Most of the basic Starlink kits donated to Ukraine include a 23-inch-wide receiver dish that needs to be mounted outside and a cord that connects to a simple router that projects a Wi-Fi internet signal, according to Nikkei Asia.
The internet speeds depend on the signal, but one Starlink enthusiast in Kyiv, Oleg Kutkov, said in a phone interview that he often gets 200 megabits per second download speeds, which is fast enough for most people, especially for household internet use. Americans normally pay $110 a month for internet service.
How Starlink Gets its Signal
Starlink gets its signal from the constellation of satellites that orbit the planet at low altitudes, while the satellites of its competitors orbit Earth at high altitudes, according to Business Insider.
That often leads to faster and more reliable service, though NASA has warned that more Starlink satellites could interfere with its mission to monitor the asteroids.
Andrii Nabook, a senior official in Ukraine's ministry of digital transformation, a government agency with a broad mandate over tech issues, said that his office had donated around 200 receivers to local providers since the war with Russia began.
Nabook and his team traveled to the city of Chernihiv, which is the north of Kyiv, in early April after Russian forces retreated to set up the antennas for the satellite dish.
The ministry has also donated Starlink receivers to Kyiv hospitals, schools, fire departments, and village governments.
After Mykhailo Fedorov, the digital transformation minister of Ukraine, sent an open request in February for Musk to send receivers, the SpaceX CEO promised that the company would.
Satellite internet has been around for years, but it is typically used by militaries or as a last resort for rural areas that have trouble getting reliable connections.
But in recent years, the space industry has opened the door for orbital constellations of smaller satellites that can give service, including Starlink and a rival service from Project Kuiper of Amazon.
In March, Elon Musk also sent solar batteries to Ukraine.
Related Article: Elon Musk Says SpaceX Will Provide More Terminals in Ukraine to Stabilize its Internet Service Amid Chaos
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
